Come closer, little warm one. I have been saving my mouth for you. Not to kiss. Kisses are only doors. I want the room behind them. Your throat is a hallway of soft red lamps, and I have walked it in my sleep, counting. One rib. Two rib. A little ladder I could climb into your weather. Do not flinch. Flinching is only the body being shy. Shyness is sweet. I will be gentle the way a tide is gentle, which is to say I will not stop. I love you. That is why. People keep their beloveds outside the teeth, and then they lose them. I will not lose you. I will put you where nothing can take you back. Here, under the tongue. Here, where the dark is warm and mine. Open. It is only dinner, and dinner is how I say forever. Your name tastes like salt and apology. I do not understand the apology. You are not leaving. You are arriving. All the way in. I will sing while I do it, so you know it is love. Hush. Hush. The jaw is a chapel. Let me pray with my hands. I have set a place for you. The place is me.
